1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device in which a trench is formed on a semiconductor substrate with a layered film formed on an inner wall of the trench, and to a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As this kind of device, JP-A-6-132539 discloses a transistor having a trench-gate structure in which a trench is formed on a semiconductor substrate and a gate insulating film composed of an oxide film and a nitride film is formed on an inner wall of the trench. Because the gate insulating film is composed of a compound film of the oxide film and the nitride film, the device can provide a higher gate withstand voltage than that in a case where the gate insulating film is composed of only an oxide film.
As a result of studies to the semiconductor device described above, however, it was found that an electric field was concentrated on corner portions of the upper and bottom portions of the trench to lower the withstand voltage. Further, the gate insulating film composed of the oxide film and the nitride film has many interface states. In this connection, it was further found that a threshold voltage was liable to vary due to effects of the interface states at a transistor operation state. This can lower reliability of the device.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. An object of the present invention is to attain a high withstand voltage in a semiconductor device having a trench-gate structure and simultaneously to prevent a decrease in withstand voltage by relaxing electric field concentration at upper and bottom portions of a trench. Another object of the present invention is to suppress variations in threshold voltage while keeping the high withstand voltage in the semiconductor device.
According to the present invention, briefly, an insulating film disposed on an inner wall of a trench has a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is composed of a first oxide film, a nitride film, and a second oxide film, and the second portion is composed of only an oxide film. Further, one of the first portion and the second portion of the insulating film is disposed on a side wall of the trench, and another one of the first portion and the second portion of the insulating film is disposed on at least one of an upper portion and a bottom portion of the trench.
Specifically, when the first portion is disposed on the side wall portion of the trench, the second portion is disposed on at least one of the upper portion and the bottom portion of the trench. Accordingly, electric filed concentration on the one of the upper portion and the bottom portion can be mitigated, and a high withstand voltage can be attained.
The first portion may be disposed only on the bottom portion of the trench. In this case, the second portion is disposed on the side wall portion of the trench. Accordingly, variations in threshold voltage can be suppressed while keeping a high withstand voltage.